Forget about AMERICAN IDOL. Tonight the best singing is on 90210

In the music industry, the most satisfying career experiences don't happen overnight. It is a long haul over time, with a lot of craft study, bad experiences, missed opportunities—

And lucky breaks.

I can't sing worth a flip, but my sister, Darien, can certainly carry a tune, and as we say in the South, "the nut don't fall far from the tree." In her case, her wonderful daughter, Andree Belle, was blessed with Dee's talent gene and is making the most of it in one of the hardest music markets to crack: Los Angeles.

The song is fun. It's sexy. It's naughty, yet oh so innocent. Best of all, it's original.

In other words, it puts the (Sugar) pop in pop music.

Sadly, something that AMERICAN IDOL hasn't done in a while.

Ironically, 90210 runs up against AMERICAN IDOL on tonight's TV schedule. But let me ask you something super important, at least as it pertains to pop culture history:

Would you rather watch another hour of tired, lackluster amateur performances that even Simon Cowell can no longer stomach ("Will someone puhleeze get me off this reality show?"), or do you want to say you were THERE, listening to VARIETY PACK for the very first time?

90210 is nostalgic for a whole generation (make that Gen Y). And perhaps the 2.0 version hasn't caught the zeitgeist of the original, but that doesn't matter. Because tonight 90210 won't be about Naomi or Navid, or Adrianna or Dixon.

It'll be about Andree — someone who leads the real (as opposed to reality TV) life of musician-singers in this day and age.

Every now and then, that means a break that can lead to a satisfying career.

"Hollywood's got nothing on the cast of characters living in
the
bedroom community of Paradise Heights, who have the secrets, sex, money
and scandal of an OK! Magazine cover story. Josie Brown is a skilled
observer whose clever dialogue and feisty style make for truly
entertaining reading."